Riverside siltless basin.



UNITED STATES PATENT orrro PETER; s; AwroN, or m patm s, LoUIsIAnA.

' RIVERSIDE SILTLESS' BASIN.

To all whom it may concern: Be 1t known that I, PETER S.,LAw'roN, a

citizen of the United States, residing at New s isvreadily docked at theshop regardless of the'strong current in the river, the silt depositstherein, or the strong winds, waves, etc., which hinder the handling ofsuch vessels. i v

A further object of the invention is the provision of a deep still-waterbasin having a guarded approach from a silt-bearing river with strongcurrent, while ashallow basin of constant depth is connected with saidstill-water basin being provided with launching ways readily accessiblefrom any point upon the land. With these general objects in. view,.'thedevice broadly eonsists in the combination and arrangement of partshereinafter fully described as well as claimed, the same beingillustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Iike referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the same.

Referring more in detail to the View set forth in the drawing it will benoted that the numeral 5 represents the land or river bank adjacent thewater as at 6, which represents such a river as the lower Mississippi,having a strong current with immense deposits of silt in the river whichis being constantly carried down by the current toward the Gulf ofMexico. The usual levee or wall 7 being provided at the side of theriver, wharves 8 and 9 are arranged in the usual manner spaced apartadjacent the levee 7, the wharf 8 being positioned up-stream from thewharf 9, boats 10 beingshown positioned in deep water of the river 6adjacent the lower wharf 9.

A deep-water basin 11 is arranged inwardly of the levee 7, having aguarded entrance 1? from the river and bei g Provided Application fil edMay 1 1917, iQ SerialNo.165,683. i a

Specificationof Letters eem. Patented Aug. is, 1918,-

was marginal wharf 13 it the as or a I .wallsurrounding the basin andbeing of the same height and connected with the wharves 'SandQ, f

.Theguardedentrance 12 is formed by a down-stream projection lief thewharf 8 which projection extends outwardly into the riverand is formedby driving sheet piling .15 intothe river bed, said sheet piling 15extending at an acuteangle from the levee 7 t0 the outermost point ofthe wharf 8. By this construction it will be seen that silt laden waterin passing down stream will strike the piling 15 and be deflected awayfroin'the entrance 20 and the wharf 9. Alike projection 16 extends.within thebasin 11. This projection is also, formed by driving sheetpiling l5 into the basin bed. Both pro.-

jections l4 and 16extend=to a point beyond the end of the wharf 9. Itwill thus be seen that the entrance from the river 6 to the basin 11 isthrough a passage extending upstream and diagonally inward, thendownstream and again inward until the main basin is reached. Bythisarrangement sediment is prevented from entering the basin 11 due to thefact that the water is deflected away fromthe guarded entrance by thesheet piling'15. Y i

- And, further, sediment can not be blown into the basin 11 asiany} windtending to blow ,waterrinto the basin from the river would also strikethe sheet piling 15, with 1 the resultant effect upon the. water thatthe water tending to come from the river would be checked by the waterbeing blown from within the basin, or, in other words, any wind blowingup-stream would strike the sheet piling 15 and 15 and would becomepocketed at 12, which pocketing effect would be the same as a cushion,thereby preventing the wind from having any effect upon the water.

It will be seen that by this construction a boat, as shown at 10, wouldpass withinthe guarded passage 12 and back into the basin '11 regardlessof the conditions in the river, and at no time will the strong current,due to high water affect the docking. Any silt deposited in the guardedentrance 12, due to slow settling of the sediment in the water adjacentthe river, and water which may enter the basin 11 when the river rises,can

e easily r fid thr gh t e p n ng20 into the river 6 by means of Waterjets, agitators or small suction dredges located Within the pocket 12.

WVithin the basin 11 any number of floating docks such as 21, 22 or 23may be provided With excavations beneath the samejso that they may sinkto a proper depth in accommodating large vessels. It is absolutelyimpossible to accommodate floating docks of this character Withina"s-iltbearing river as the excavations into Which they sink whensubmerged so rapidly fill upWith silt that the expense of dredgil'i-g isprohibitive; a11dn1oreover, several serious accidents have resulted fromthe turning over of these floatingdocks, due to the' action ofthe'ci'irrent, Whe1r1"ising'Witl1 a vessel.

It'ivill also be noted that l have provided projecting docks 24 and'25to which several vesselscananoor and be adjacent to overhead cranes andland machinery, which cou'ld'not be used 'upon the docks located nearthe levee Without endangering the levee. Tracks 26 are provided wherebymaterial an'dsuitable apparatus may be moved about the'yards'with safetyand facility. At -27 I have provided a lock canal having double gates28. This canalforms a passage 'Way for boats between the basin 11 andthe fixed level'basin29. The level of'this basin is maintained bysuitablepumps or*through the medium of a spill-Way 30. Adjacent to thebasin'29 I have provided Ways 31 upon which vessels '32 may beconstructed and readily launched.

It Will be noted that by this-arrangement, the canal 27 'and gates 28are so remotely rem'ovedifrom the river that the danger to the levees'isalso lessened, as it is quite difficult to maintain tight gates at alevee ovving to the constant settling of the surrounding ground, "andfurther the sediment seriously afie'ctsthe operation ofthe gates,Whereas the gates to my lock are so far from the river asto be in clearWater Where they can be operated Without difiiculty.

What I claim as new is:

I. Anentrance'fo'r a basin located adjacent to-a silt bearing rivercomprising tWo '1nenti.oned*\vharf, a third wharf "diverging from saidfirst Wharf and overlapping-said second 'wvha rf,and in' spa'cedrelation thereto.

"3. Abasin entrance 'com'pris'ing' two diverging whai-v'es and' a thirdWharf projecting upstream between the said 'Wliarves and spaced fromsaid wvliarves' a suificient "distaince to alloav entrance by vesselbetween the wharves.

LAJbalsin entrance comprising t'wo diverging Whar'ves and a third Wharfprojectin'gnpstream bettveen the-first mentioned Wharves sothat theWater enters the basin in a V shaped course. i I

an basin"ent'rance comprising two diverging "wharves' 'ada'pted tocounteract the blowing in of silt laden Water from the outer riverthrough the pocketing of the 'wi'ndand driven water from both the riverand basin 7 Within the pocket formed by the diverging 'Wharves, a thirdWharf projecting upstream and spaced away from but-between saiddiverging wharves.

In i ony whereof I aflix my signature.

PETER S. LAWTON.

-'Cdpies"of this'patent may beobtained'forfive cents each,-by'address'mgthe Oommiss' ioneref Ea'tnts,

Washington, D.- G. r

